I never dreamed about success, I worked for it.-Estee LauderTOP GUNS 03

After leading Wiprofor 53 years, AzimPremji called it aday on June 6. Andwith that, thecurtains fall on along and illustriousjourney. We profilethe titan who isknown for hissimple living andhigh thinking...

THE MANThe 73-year-old, who hadto cut short an engineer-ing course in Stanford andreturn to India to pick upthe family baton after hisfather’s death in 1966, hasguided the cooking oilcompany through thedecades, leading its tran-sition into a successful ITmajor. And it was underhis stewardship that Wiprolisted on the New YorkStock Exchange in 2000,and became the fastestwealth creator in fiveyears (1997-2002).

NOT JUST TECHPremji has made headlinesbeyond IT. His leadershipskills — high on integrityand corporate governance— have been cited as an ex-ample for the tech (and non-tech, too) industry to follow.Add to that his intensity,ethics and never-say-die at-titude, and there emerges aleader-mentor-motivator,who has left an impressionon millions of Wipro em-ployees, past and present.

AZIM PREMJIDOB: July 24, 1945

Claim to fame: CEO, Wipro(retired recently)

Net worth:

PREMJI: THE PHILANTHROPIST“YOU CANNOT MANDATE PHILANTHROPY. IT HAS TO

COME FROM WITHIN, AND WHEN IT DOES, IT ISDEEPLY SATISFYING”

Premji has been one of the most generous donors amongIndia’s industrialists. In March, he pledged 34% of his Wiproshares to Azim Premji Foundation, a philanthropic initiativefocused primarily on education, taking the total commitmentto the organisation to 67% of his wealth, or ` 1.45 lakhcrore. The foundation set up the Azim Premji University as a

not-for-profit venture in 2010. The Premji family holdsa 74% stake in the software exporter.

HIS SALAD DAYSAS A KID: I was very naughtywhen I was a kid. And in thosedays, you got rapped on theknuckles, you got hit on yourhead and you had to be kneel-ing outside the class for a real-ly long time. At least some ofthose practices are no longerthere. But I spent a lot of timeoutside the class, kneeling.

ON HIS MENTOR: I was guided bythe teachings of MahatmaGandhi, which said that wealthis a trusteeship and should notbe used as ownership. In fact,when one is showered [with]wealth beyond what one de-serves, I think the question re-ally arises is, what does one re-ally do with this wealth?

He became the first Indianto sign up for The Giving

Pledge, a campaign led by WarrenBuffett and Bill Gates, to encouragethe wealthiest people to make a com-mitment to give most of their wealthto philanthropic causes.

He has twice been listed among the100 most influential people by TIMEMagazine, once in 2004 and more recently in2011.

OF PREMJI

1There is no substitute for hardwork. The person who works hard-

er, generally tends to win in terms ofpeer group

2Don’t give up

3Always look at the brighter sideof life

4Donate; it gives you immense sat-isfaction

5Truth is absolute - fame, success,money follow it.

5 COMMANDMENTS

The moment you have success, your expectationsfrom the profession goes up. But more important-ly, your expectations from yourself go up. And, Ithink, the only way to have sustained success is tokeep competing with yourself. That’s the onlyenduring thing according to me.

Exercise, be active and not lead a sedentarylife. A certain physical activity should be main-tained - walk, skip or jog - along with a goodfood diet. That is the only way to destress.

If you set high standards for yourself, youstrive to meet standards and hence remainmodest

After a gap ofalmost 30 years,Premji signed upfor correspon-dence classes in1995 to completehis engineeringdegree fromStanford that hehad to abandonmidway.

On how to stay successful:

On how to destress

On how to stay modest

$520cr(2019)

TRAILING PREMJI’SSUCCESS STORY

Who is your role model? Do you wish him/her to be featured? Name your role model and why they should be featured at toinie175@gmail.com

TIPS FOR

successCELEB RICHARD BRANSON

He left school at the ageof 16. He went on to startVirgin Records in the1970s and is the founderof the Virgin Group. Yes,we are talking aboutRichard Branson. He is

credited with startingthe Virgin Mobile andVirgin Trains. His project,Virgin Galactic, is aspace tourism

company. Here arehis tips...

Follow your dreams...Follow your dreams, get involved in life, in the things that interestyou. If you are going to create a business, make sure it is yourhobby, your passion or something that you really enjoy. Don't justset out to do something for the sake of making money. I think lots

of people have lots of great ideas, but very few actually go out and try to putthem into practice.

Make a positive difference and do some goodThe first thing to do if you want to become an entrepreneur is tohave an idea that is going to make a positive difference to otherpeople's lives. A business is simply that. If you're running a busi-ness you are in a position where you can make a hell of a differ-ence in this world. I also think it's great for the staff of a company that they canfeel good about a company actually doing good.

Believe in your ideas and be the

bestYou definitely need to

believe in your idea.There's really no point in

doing something in lifeunless people feel

really good about itand proud about it.You've got to havepassion for it and

you've got to be able to inspireother people to have a passion for it

too. If an idea is a good idea youshould be able to pitch it in two orthree sentences and two or three

sentences fit very neatly on the backof an envelope.

Don't give upIt's extremely important not to giveup. There have been situations inmy adventures, like crossing the

Pacific in a balloon, where the odds werestacked very heavily against our survival.Being an entrepreneur is not that dissimilar tobeing an adventurer. Brush yourself down thenext day and move onto something else.

Make lists and keep settingyourself new challengesDetails are very important and I thinkit's important to keep setting yourselfnew challenges and targets. I believethat the first of the year is a good time to writedown your goals for the year. Unless you actuallyorganise yourself and write down the kinds ofthings you want to achieve, you won’t get far.

Success is not final; fail-ure is not fatal: It is the

courage to continue thatcounts.

Winston S Churchill

If you can dreamit, you can do it.

Walt Disney

The secret of success is to do the common

thing uncommonly well.

John D Rockefeller Jr

In order to succeed, your desire for successshould be greater than

your fear of failure Bill Cosby

QUOTES

What is your favouritesuccess quote? Share

with us attoinie175@gmail.com

SUCCESS ORextraordinarySUCCESS”

1. Azim Premji has beenawarded Padma Vibhushan inyear ___________.

[A] 2013 [B] 2012 [C] 2011[D] 2010

2. Azim Premji has been list-ed among the 100 most influ-ential people by TIMEMagazine __________.

[A] thrice[B] once[C] none ofthese[D]

twice

3. Whichof the fol-

lowing awardor honour is not

received by Azim Premji?

[A] Doctor of Humane Letters[B] Padma Bhushan [C]Padmashri [D] PadmaVibhushan

4. Wipro diversified into IT inwhich year? ____________.

[A] 1980

[B] 1990

[C] 1978

[D] 1983

ANSWERS:

1(c) 2011 2(d) Twice 3(c)Padmashri 4(a) 1980

“People are the KEY toSPOTLIGHT